African Industrialization Day 2024 is on Wednesday, November 20, 2024: What factors prevent developing nations from becoming industrialized nations?

Wednesday, November 20, 2024 is African Industrialization Day 2024. UN Pulse - UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library • Africa Industrialization ... Africa Industrialization Day

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Each developing country is different and has different cause for their lower standard of living. China, for example, is the most industrialized nation on earth, yet their middle class is only now beginning to emerge. The Chinese government is the ultimate share-holder, that is owner, of the chinese based companies. Yet, since China has a communist government, the state is by definition the "labor union" of the people. Any other organized labor groups are illegal, and staging a strike could lead to severe punishments for the perpetrators. So you end up with a fascist system masquerading as a socialist system (not much different from the "National Socialism" in 1930's Germany). Since the workers don't have any real negotiating power and there are so many workers available, their pay is just barely enough to sustain themselves. Adjusted for their local cost of living, managers at Chinese firms tend to draw salaries comparable to their North American and European counterparts, and this "management class" is the seed of China's emerging middle class. Until China builds a reputation for developing innovative products, like Japan, or can manufacture certain goods with super quality over their Western competitors, China will only be considered a source of cheap labor. This means that Chinese wages cannot increase beyond the difference between equivalent Western wages and the cost of transportation (which is substantial). The cost of transportation is tied to the price of oil, which over the long term will continue to increase, which could be a long term risk to China's competitiveness.

For many developing African nations, industrialization can best be described as still-born. Most of the continent was under European colonization, but with the focus on extracting their resources rather than resettlement by European families, with South Africa being the notable exception and the dominant economy south of the Sahara. The push for independence came shortly after the Second World War and at first things looked promising, but nation after nation fell into chaos and civil war. Even though the European colonists were robbing the people of their resources, the people were dependent on the stability and infrastructure they provided. The Europeans tended to favor one tribe over another during the colonial days, and the resentment and unsettled scores continue to this day, such as the violence between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. Africa is the most abundant source of raw materials on the planet and by such measure should be the wealthiest continent, but this is not the case. The colonial governments extracted their resources for over a century, and now today many African governments are selling their resources to Western corporations, such as oil companies in Nigeria. These companies bring with them their own workers from Europe and America, so there are limited jobs for the benefit of the local population. Many of the African governments are corrupt, unstable, and constantly enticed to make deals with Western corporations to extract minerals and other resources. Most of the nations are deep in debt and need whatever cash they can get, but very little gets to the people. The abundance of gold and diamonds means that once a conflict gets started there is no shortage of weapons, so peace has been a constant struggle since war tends to be more profitable (google Blood Diamonds). There are some signs that the continent is beginning to stabilize and manufacturing is on the rise. The economy may blossom similar to East Asia during the 80's and 90's. Check the tag on your clothes - you may be surprised to see how many are made in Africa.

India is a land of contrast and blatant inequality, largely due to the caste system dating back to centuries. They are now a nuclear power yet millions of peasants live in abject poverty (google Slum Dog).

Many Central and South American countries have a long history of government corruption, which can smother any economy, but this part of the world is developing at a fast pace and is becoming a real contender with North America and Europe.

Russia and Eastern Europe are developing rapidly today, but these nations took decades to recover from the devastation of WWII. The restrictive communist governments were isolated and could not benefit from the free trade between the Western nations. Soviet military spending depleted funds that could have been better spent on post-war reconstruction. After the fall of communism, and subsequently the Ruble currency, the Russian Mafia emerged to fill the power and economic vacuum. The mafia and corruption was everywhere in the highest and lowest places, which made for an inhospitable environment for Western businesses that tried to invest in the early days of Russian democracy.

Why is the United States the world's biggest economy? England, Europe, Russia, East Asia, and Japan were all bombed heavily during WWII, while t

why do some people think racism is only about skin colour?

It is a good question. I am a white South African who obviously deals with the topic, in one form or another, of racism every day and I am struck by how little knowledge any black people I know have of historical anti-Jewish, Slav, Turk, Kurd, etc. racism. I get the same impression, perhaps it is false, of African Americans. They speak - casually - as if the phenomenon is naturally unique to Africans and that nobody has the right, may even dare! - to dispute their disposition on the matter because no-one else knows anything about their suffering.

Arguably the foremost African intellectual of the 20th C was Professor Ali Mazrui of Kenya. He was quite insane, strenuously and quite seriously advocating that maps of the world should all be changed to be printed upside-down (N at the bottom, and S at the top) to improve the self-esteem of African children, because that single act would make for meaningful change. (Seriously, to his choice of words. Search on Google for "BBC Reith Lectures Archive/Prof. Ali Mazrui).

But he said one interesting thing, to wit "The reality is that blacks are mistaken if they think that either the extent or degree of atrocity against blacks in colonial Africa even remotely compares to the horrors perpetrated against Jews over the exact same period of time, even excluding World War II, from Poland and the Ukraine to Lithuania and Hungary. Blacks come a distant second in suffering at the hands of racism". (I am quoting from memory, double-check the precise wording for yourself).

Various explanations have been offered for Africa's state. One wildly popular one amongst sociologists and anthropologists was that Africa had never had sufficient contact with the rest of the world because of the obstacle of the Sahara desert, for it to share and assimilate other societies' discoveries. But that was undermined by scientific proof of extensive contact over many centuries between Oman, Yemen, North Africa (i.e. the centuries of constant, consistent, unremitting, caravans of Tuareg, Berber, and Egyptian merchants), and sub-Saharan Africa. Then proof was found of contact between the Phoenicians (the Phoenicians, for pity's sake!) and sub-Saharan Africa. Then they discovered that ... etc.

One of the popular explanations nowadays, as advocated by Anver Versi, is that the world should have developed a Marshall Plan for Africa in which massive industrialisation was paid-for.... etc.

There is a terrifically-popular Zambian author, Dambisa Moyo, who blames it on the west loaning Africa money, at Africa's request. She isn't entirely wrong, but you can't have it both ways.

Bear in mind that this is all debated in the context of proof that when the western colonial powers left Africa and South East Asia - at the same time - they left many times more schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, administrative infra-structure, telephone lines, ports, railway lines, rolling stock, and clean water in Africa. The statistics are truly startling; in fact the discrepancies are difficult to believe. But there was a good reason for it: the west invested MUCH more money in African infrastructure because Africa had much more natural resources to exploit than S.E. Asia did. So, Africa got piles and S.E. Asia got next-to-nothing, unfortunately. Now, compare the respective developments of the two regions over the past sixty years. Mmm, it makes for a lot of squirming. The point, of course, which goes to the matter of skin colour, is that by THAT measure, racism against the yellow Asians was much, much, much harsher than it was against blacks.... No?

Who knows, man. Who knows...

I wish it wasn't so, but it is.

some history help please?

1.... Europeans wanted to create favorable trade monopolies.

Europeans needed new sources of raw materials for their factories.

Europeans wanted new trade partners to sell products to.

2.... New Imperialism refers to the colonial expansion adopted by Europe's powers and, later, Japan and the United States, during the 19th and early 20th centuries; expansion took place from the French conquest of Algeria until World War I: approximately 1830 to 1914. The period is distinguished by an unprecedented pursuit of overseas territorial acquisitions.

3.... Social Darwinism is a term used for various late nineteenth century ideologies which, while often contradictory, exploited ideas of survival of the fittest. It especially refers to notions of struggle for existence being used to justify social policies which make no distinction between those able to support themselves and those unable to support themselves. Scientific racism or imperialism, or a struggle between national or racial groups.

4.... The racist attitudes of the Europeans bred resentments among Africans that would last for decades.

European imperialism had many effects on Africa. European colonization had both positive and negative effects on Africa.

A positive effect of European imperialism was the introduction of modern transportation and communication systems, such as telegraphs, railroads, and telephones. The introduction of

European medicine and improved nutrition led to an expansion of population.

However, there were many negative effects of European Imperialism on Africa. African peoples were treated as inferior to Europeans. Europeans divided Africa and ignored the tribal, ethnic, and cultural boundaries of the African people. This has led to tribal conflicts in many African nations that continue to this day.

5.... The British government took over control of India.

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to present-day Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, northern Madhya Pradesh, and the Delhi region. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to Company power in that region, and it was contained only with the fall of Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The rebellion is also known as India's First War of Independence, the Great Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the Revolt of 1857, the Uprising of 1857, the Sepoy Rebellion, and the Sepoy Mutiny.

The rebellion led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, and forced the British to reorganize the army, the financial system, and the administration in India. India was thereafter directly governed by the Crown in the new British Raj.

6.... Most Indians lived in poverty and were discriminated against by the British.

The effects of imperialism are both positive and negative. The positive effects are banning inhumane traditional practices such as sati and the dowry system, promoting widow remarriage and prohibiting child marriage. The negative effects are that Britain caused the traditional industries to crash. Also, poverty increased. British officials were paid out of the India treasury.

7.... Indian National Congress

8.... establishment of schools

9.... Opium

10.... creating a democratic republic

11.... Korea was granted independence.

12.... China's attempt to end the opium trade.

The opium war was started by the british people selling opium to the chinese people for their goods. The emporer of china was angry because of all of the people always on opium so he made it illegal to sell or buy opium. When Britain kept selling the opium illegaly, thats what started the war.

13.... become an industrial nation

14.... The US had taken control of the Philippines from Spain.

15.... It was their Manifest Destiny.

This variety of possible meanings was summed up by Ernest Lee Tuveson, who wrote:

A vast complex of ideas, policies, and actions is comprehended under the phrase 'Manifest Destiny'. They are not, as we should expect, all compatible, nor do they come from any one source.

Today, in standard scholarly usage, Manifest Destiny describes a past era in American history, particularly the 1840s. However, the term is sometimes used by the political left and by critics of U.S. foreign policy to characterize interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere. In this usage, Manifest Destiny is interpreted as the underlying cause of what is perceived by some as "American imperialism."